Wednesday, November 04, 2009

Dragon Age Review

This isn't actually a review of Dragon Age. But I do have a decent Google ranking, so it would amuse me if this ranked high up in the search results.

On Sep 21, I received the following email:

I’m working alongside Electronic Arts on the release of Dragon Age: Origins across multiple platforms, including Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, and PC. We thought you might be interested in receiving game related assets and a review copy.... It would be great if you could share your initial impressions of the game with your readers prior to the release date on 11/3. If you’d be interested in receiving a review copy, please send over your address and console preference.

On Nov 2, I received:

Also - I should hear back from EA later this week about whether I'm able to secure a review copy for your site. I'll keep you posted.

It looks like EA hired a firm called Rocket XL to do some publicity work for Dragon Age. This firm decided to approach a bunch of gaming bloggers and promise them review copies of the game, hoping to get some extra publicity via "new media" or whatever.

As you can see, it looks like they were unable to follow through on their promise. I wonder if they had any review copies to give out, or if they figured that by the time the game came out they would have gotten a bunch of free publicity without ever needing to actually send copies to people.

Poor form, Rocket XL. And bad judgement on your part, EA/Bioware.

And I guess a lesson for me as well. Never trust anything from PR people until they actually pony up.

Edit: For the record, I did end up receiving a copy of the game on Nov 12.

13 comments:

Can't help feeling rather good about deciding not to accept the offer since I didn't think I was qualified enough to make a serious review. I acknowledged my limits - in opposition to those PR people. They're really a shame for the profession.

Same thing happened to me -- I just made a similar post. So far, I haven't heard of anyone receiving these offers actually getting sent a review copy. Lame. I think the flaw in their plan was that bloggers blog about everything. This crappy experience with their publicity firm will now be immortalized.

(Also, a google search for "Dragon Age Review" does bring up this post on the first page. Nicely done! :) )

I'm a little confused, you say "I wonder if they had any review copies to give out, or if they figured that by the time the game came out they would have gotten a bunch of free publicity without ever needing to actually send copies to people" and then you go on to not only mention the game title, but the two companies involved. You are giving free promotion in spite of your misgivings.

Different from my own experience. Even though I made it very clear that I am not qualified to review other games and that my blog is a rather 'niche' affair, I offered to review the game if a copy was supplied. I heard on the 2nd that it has been shipped. Part of me is still doubtful it will turn up, but a review is the least I can do for a free copy if it arrives.